


december 15th: what lies beneath the waters

by watergator



Series: december fic advent 2018 [15]
Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Alternate Universe - 1990s, Fluff, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-15
Updated: 2018-12-15
Packaged: 2019-09-19 12:20:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,441
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17001552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/watergator/pseuds/watergator
Summary: prompt: cryptidsphil works at the loch ness monster museum where he meets a boy named dan





	december 15th: what lies beneath the waters

Fingers skim past hot skin quickly. Lips smack against each other with eager and in the tiny little cupboard room, Dan pushes Phil up against the door with meaning, wanting to be sure that if someone did try to come in, they’d be blocked out by the other man’s weight.

Although, instead of giving into the rough kiss Dan offers him, Phil pulls back with a stifled laugh and bites his lip. Dan stares at him with intense eyes.

“What?” he whispers.

Phil giggles softly again. “I have to get back,” he says with a smile, although his voice testers on the edge of sadness.

Dan frowns. “No you don’t. You don’t.” He kisses him against, the back of Phil’s head thuds against the door and Phil laughs again against his lips.

“I do. I really do,” he whispers once they’ve pulled apart.

Dan let’s out a sigh and steps away. He watches the man in front of him tuck his shirt back into his blue washed jeans, straightening the collar of his polo out around his neck.

“Your hairs a mess,” Phil tells him gently once he’s sorted himself out, stepping forward to push back a curl off his forehead with gentle fingers. “You sticking around?” He asks.

Despite the fact that Dan had only gotten a measly ten minutes with his secret boyfriend, stealing him away from work just to make out with him in a broom cupboard, he smiled still.

“Sure,” he stands up straight and tugs down on his own shirt. “C’mon. Give me the tour,” he winks.

He’d only known Phil the length of a summer. His family had dragged him down to the depths of Scotland and one rainy afternoon they’d all gone along to one of the few tourist attractions in the area.

_The Loch Ness Centre and Exhibition._

The thought had made him scoff back then when his family had taken a taxi from their hotel to the building. Built with brick and looking like a house more than a museum, Dan had set eyes on the tour guide, moved down from the North and making his way with the boring summer job.

All it had taken was a couple of visits a week (Dan had to convince his parents that he’d been interested in the cryptic mystery) and after a few meetings, they’d gone to a back room where Dan had pushed him against a wall and asked him if he was gay.

He remembered how Phil had swallowed thickly and nodded slowly with a, “Don’t tell anybody.”

Dan had kissed him quick and replied in a breath, “As long as you don’t tell on me.”

Since then Dan would skip out on family extrusions and head down to the quiet museum just to get what he could with the stolen boy in a broom cupboard.

They walk to the lobby in silence when the front door opens and a bustle of children and their parents enter the room.

Dan watches Phil with a grin as he puts on his customer service face and smiles brightly,

“Hi! Welcome, would you be interested in a tour today?”

The mother thanks him greatly as the father tries to handle the bundle of children that yap at their feet, loud and uncaring.

“We’re going to see the monster!” The dad tells one, trying to get them to stand still. “You want to see the monster, hm? Then you’ll have to behave.”

Dan leans back on the wall, watching silently with a smirk. There is no monster. There’s no Loch Ness monster and this tourist trap is merely a cash grab, watching the woman fish out her money out of her purse and Phil takes it kindly.

“I’ll be your guide for today,” Phil smiles. “My names Phil, and if you’d like to follow me through here we can begin the tour.”

The family happily follow, and Dan trails behind with a smile still.

The tour is actually quite boring, especially when you have to listen to it every day. But it’s not like Dan’s being forced to want to be with Phil, he is here by choice after all.

Phil takes them through a little room that’s all too familiar for Dan as walls hang with framed newspaper clippings, all various versions of the same story.

“So this place was founded ten years ago, back in 1980,” Phil speaks. He doesn’t sound bored at all, almost like he actually enjoys this, but Dan knows from the evenings when they’d shut down for the day and Phil would walk him back up the stretch of path towards the main road, alone, that Phil actually found it boring too.

“When do we get to see the monster?” A child shrieks, interrupting Phil’s practiced script. Phil laughs lightly.

“We’ll be able to go see the lake towards the end of the tour and perhaps you might see something,” he grins with a glimmer in his eyes.

Despite his disbelief, it warms Dan to know that he still plays it up for the kids that come through here with wide eyes of wonder.

They continue through different rooms and greet other members of staff, all people that neither Dan nor Phil have bothered to get to know; Dan’s sure they’ve caught on that Dan manages to tag along to every tour Phil gives without paying, but he doesn’t care.

Well. He does care. Whilst it seems gay rights seem to be progressing throughout the UK it’s still worrisome. Just last month there had been an attack, killing three gay men. It’s still illegal, and every time he takes Phil into that back broom room, he pushes him against the door not only because he finds it hot and daunting, because he doesn’t want the life beaten out the pair of them if they were caught.

The tour carries on and Dan barely listens anymore. He spends the hour watching Phil, grinning over at him with small looks and sometimes he’ll walk past him to pretend to read something on the wall just to brush his hand up against his.

The finally make it to the lake and the family seems to perk up just a little once the make it out to the stretch of water. Dan remembers the first time he came here with Phil, back when his heart beat rapidly in his chest and his palms wouldn’t stop sweating because all he could think about was hot insanely beautiful the boy with the raven black hair looked in the drizzle of rain that showered over them.

Now, the lake seems underwhelming. But Phil. Phil reminds breathtaking still.

“There haven’t been any sightings in quite a while,” Phil tells them. The same thing he says all the time, Dan could mouth along to his words. “But if you look hard enough you never know what you’ll see.”

It’s supposed to be enticing and mystical and perhaps a little scary, but people usually get to the end of the tour and realise they’ve wasted their money.

“I want to see the monster!” The little girl stops her foot. Her father scoops her up in his arms.

“How long until we have to go back in?” He asks, looking tired. Phil plasters a fake smile on his lips.

“The tour ends here, sir. You’re welcome to stay as long as you want out here. We only ask you not to litter or attempt to go into the lake. Other than that, have a fabulous day.”

They say goodbye, leaving the tired looking family and their wailing kids behind in cries that they didn’t see any monsters and Dan bumps his shoulder playfully once they’re back at the building.

“So one of these days, are you ever gonna mention your elephant theory?” He grins. Phil snorts a laugh.

“Don’t wanna put me out of a job,” he laughs, walking back into the lobby. It’s empty, thankfully.

“And whys that? You hate it here, don’t you?”

Phil moves back behind the desk and looks down with a blush. 

“Because if I got fired from here, who’d come visit me every day?” He whispers shyly.

Dan leans over the desk, untouchable still and cautious.

“Wish I didn’t have to steal you away into a broom cupboard everyday though,” he frowns.

Phil looks like he’s going to move his hands across the table to Dan’s, but they just twitch and stay where they are. The thought is enough to make Dan feel giddy.

“One day, you won’t.” He tells him.

Dan hums, just as another wave of people come through.

“One day,” Dan whispers.

**Author's Note:**

> come say hi on tumblr !! @watergator


End file.
